Speech  of  Hon.  James  H.  Harris 


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SPEECH 


OF 


HON.  JAMES  H.  HARRIS 


ON   THE 


MILITIA  BILL, 

Delivered  in  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Representatives 
Monday,  January  17th,  1870. 

<Prom  the  N.  C.  Standard's  Phonographic  Keports,  Lawrence  Hagarty,  Phonographer.) 


The  House  of  Representatives  met  on  Monday  the  17th 
January,  pursuant  to  adjournment. 

The  bill  to  Secure  the  Better  Protection  of  Life  and  Prop- 
erty, being  made  the  Special  Order  for  Monday  at  10£  o'clock, 
A.  M.,  was  taken  up  at  that  hour. 

The  question  being  upon  the  adoption  of  the  amendment 
offered  by  Mr.  Malone,  namely,  to  strike  out  in  section  one 
the  words  "  to  declare  such  County  in  a  State  of  insurrection." 

Mr.  Harris  then  said : 

Mr.  Speaker  : — I  ask  the  attention  of  the  House  this  morn- 
ing while  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  some  of  the  reasons  why, 
and  why  I  think,  that  the  amendment  offered  by  the  gentle- 
man from  Caldwell  ought  not  to  pass,  and  also  the  reason  why 
the  bill  as  it  now  stands,  amended  with  the  feature  that  is 
generally  known  as  the  habeas  corpus,  stricken  out,  (thereby 
rendering  it  far  less  objectionable)  ought  to  pass. 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  is  not  a  gentleman  on  this  floor  who,  in, 
the  absence  of  all  party  prejudice,  who,  in  his  cool,  calm  and 
deliberate  moments,  allowing  himself  to  be  governed  by  con- 
siderations promotive  of  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  all 
classes  of  the  citizens  of  North  Carolina,  who  would  not  say 
in  his  heart,  who  would  not  say  in  his  conscience,  who  would 
not  say  before  his  God,  that  this  amendment  to  the  Militia 
law  of  North  Carolina  is  not  necessary  for  the  protection  of 
the  lives,  property,  liberty  and  sacred  honor  of  the  men, 
CV  women  and  children  of  North  Carolina. 

I 


There  is  not  a  member  on  this  floor,  in  the  absence  of  party 
considerations,  who  would  have  the  interest  of  North  Carolina, 
who  would  have  the  interest  of  the  entire  people  of  this  State 
at  heart,  as  well  as  the  adopted  citizens  thereof,  who  would  not 
say  that  something  was  necessary  to  be  done,  that  some 
measure  was  necessary  to  be  passed  and  enforced  for  their 
security. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  shall  notice  the  remarks  of  the  gentleman 
from  Caldwell  first.  Every  member  on  the  floor  knows  full 
well  what  he  delivered  on  the  subject  on  Friday.  He  charac- 
terized the  bill  rather  as  being  designed  to  place  absolute 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  of  the  State  for  the  pur- 
pose of  carrying  out,  as  he  said,  despotic  measures.  Now,  Mr. 
Speaker,  I  believe  that  section,  which  the  gentleman  from 
Caldwell  seems  to  have  so  much  objection  to,  provides  that 
whenever  it  is  necessary  that  the  Militia  be  sent  to  preserve 
law  and  order  and  execute  the  laws  in  any  County,  the  expenses 
of  the  militia  shall  be  raised  by  taxing  the  property  holders  of 
that  County.  That  is  the  great  objection,  and  I  ask  now  is  it 
consistent,  is  it  right,  is  it  just,  is  it  proper,  that  in  six  Counties 
of,  I  will  say  eighty  in  the  State,  the  law  cannot  be  enforced, 
where  riot,  murder,  assassination,  bloodshed  and  death  holds 
high  carnival  and  the  authorities  are  set  at  defiance. 

I  ask  is  it  right  that  these  seventy-four  Counties  should  be 
taxed  to  pay  the  expenses  incurred  by  the  lawlessness  and 
outrages  committed  in  six  or  seven  other  Counties.  I  say  not. 
It  is  but  just  and  proper  and  right  in  any  one  County  where 
assassination,  murder  and  bloodshed  are  encouraged  when 
innocent  and  inoffensive  citizens  are  scourged,  shot  down,  and 
hanged  by  the  neck  until  they  are  dead. 

Where  this  lawlessness  and  these  assassinations  are  encour- 
aged for  purposes  of  political  power  and  aggrandizement.  I 
repeat  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  measures  should  be  passed 
to  enable  the  Executive  to  put  down  such  a  state  of  things  and 
I  say  such  men  and  such  Counties  should  be  taxed,  and  I 
believe  the  most  effectual  method  is  to  reach  their  pocket  first ; 
and  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Speaker,  those  Counties  where  this  state  of 


wrong  prevails — Lenoir,  Jones  and  Orange  and  others — would* 
be  taught  a  salutary  lesson  and  would  come  to  very  different 
conclusions  when  they  find  that  they  have  to  pay  all  the 
expenses  attending  such  a  state  of  affairs. 

It  is  nothing  new  to  North  Carolina.  I  assert  it  here,  we 
have  upon  our  statute  book  a  law  of  the  very  character  of  the 
objectionable  section  in  this  bill.  "We  have  a  law  that  is  simi- 
lar in  character,  only  that  it  is  specific  and  refers  but  to  one 
class,  while  the  bill  we  are  about  to  enact  refers  to  a  party  that 
ignores  all  law  and  order. 

I  will  read  it.  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to 
chapter  70  of  the  Eevised  Code  of  North  Carolina,  section  S&,, 
it  reads  thus  :    . 

When  there  may  be  outlawed  or  runaway  negroes,  commit- 
ting depredations,  or  in  any  way  alarming  the  citizens  of  amy 
County,  or  where  the  guarding  of  a  jail  is  necessary,  three  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace,  certifying  the  same  in  writing,  and  request- 
ing the  officer  in  command  of  their  County  such  officer  shall 
effect  the  object  set  forth  in  said  request  of  the  Justices,  and 
the  expenses  of  the  militia  so  called  out,  shall  be  paid  by  the 
Court  of  the  County,  who  may  lay  a  sufficient  tax  to  pay  salt! 
militia,  at  the  same  rates  as  the  regular  troops  of  the  United 
States  are  by  law  entitled  to,  when  in  actual  service. 

Now  mark  !  that  law  is  on  your  statute  book,  and  is  per- 
haps thirty-five  years  old,  providing  that  in  Counties  where 
lawlessness  prevails,  the  same  County  shall  levy  a  sufficient  tax 
upon  the  property  of  that  County  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
militia.  Here  is  a  law  almost  as  old  as* the  gentleman  from* 
Caldwell  himself,  and  the  only  difference  in  it,  as  I  said  before,,, 
was  that  it  referred  to  an  inoffensive  class,  namely,  free  negroes., 
while  the  other  referred  to  a  very  different  class  of  citizens. 

I  believe  you  will  all  agree  with  me  that  every  clas9  of  mens 
who  disregard  the  law  ought  to  be  punished,  and  if  in  those 
times  it  was  necessary  to  levy  a  special  tax  upon  Counties  to 
support  the  militia,  and  they  found  it  right  and  wholesome 
why  is  it  not  right  and  wholesome  now  ?    Why  have  not  these; 


gentlemen  found  it  out  before  this,  that  during  the  last  thirty- 
years  it  was  tyrannious  and  oppressive  to  the  people  of  the 
Counties  to  pay  this  lawful  tax  levied  on  them. 

Every  good  citizen  joins  me  in  saying  that  every  class  of 
citizens  that  disobey  the  laws  of  the  land  ought  to  be  punished. 

It  goes  still  further,  the  militia  of  the  State,  both  officers 
and  soldiers,  when  in  military  service  of  the  State,  shall  receive 
the  pay  and  rations  of  soldiers  in  the  military  service  of  the 
United  States  that  in  the  event  of  any  officer  refusing  to  dis- 
charge his  duty  when  called  out,  he  shall  be  fined,  he  shall  be 
imprisoned,  and  yet  that  law  has  been  in  operation  perhaps 
thirty  years  and  never  been  found  objectionable  until  it  is  pro- 
posed to  make  that  law  practicable  in  some  insurrectionary 
Counties. 

Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  gentleman  from  Caldwell  says  why 
•don't  Justices  of  the  Peace  call  for  the  militia.  Now  Mr. 
Speaker,  I  assert  here,  and  I  challenge  successful  contradiction. 
I  say  here,  that  in  the  County  of  Chatham,  the  County  of 
Orange,  the  Counties  of  Lenoir  and  Jones,  and  certain  dis- 
tricts in  the  County  of  Alamance,  magistrates  are  afraid  to 
issue  warrants  and  arrest  those  murderers. 

They  have  been  threatened  for  defending  those  defenceless 
negroes  that  is  the  reason  why  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  are 
deterred  from  doing  what  they  ought  to  do. 

The  gentleman  from  Caldwell  says  that  we  ourselves,  the 
Republican  party,  in  passing  this  militia  bill,  are  stirring  up 
strife  between  the  white  people  of  the  State,  and  the  negroes 
of  the  State,  but  this  is  what  the  gentleman  and  his  party  advo- 
cate to-day.  He  is  the  same  white  political  non-descript,  he 
belongs  to  the  Democratic  party.  He  prides  himself  on  his 
old  Whig  blood.  And  yet  he  says,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  there  is 
a  party  in  North  Carolina  who  are  stirring  up  strife  and  array- 
ing the  whites  against  the  blacks,  it  is  that  corrupt,  cowardly 
hearted  party  with  which  the  gentleman  acts  on  this  floor, 
and  which  stands  by  the  machinery  of  the  devil,  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  North  Carolina. 

And  what  is  my   evidence  for   it  1     The  gentleman   from 


Caldwell,  with  that  chief  corner-stone  of  the  arguments  of 
Democratic  orators  on  the  stamp,  namely,  that  of  negro  infe- 
riority and  the  attempt  of  the  Republican  party  to  place  them 
over  the  whites  in  North  Carolina.  Every  paper  that  is  pub- 
lished by  them  on  the  one  hand,  have  these  arguments  as  their 
corner-stone,  and  they  refuse  to  publish  anything  that  would 
do  him  justice  on  the  other.  Yes,  these  party  papers  have 
their  columns  filled  with  articles  seeking  to  palliate  and  defend 
this  band  of  midnight  assassins  who  are  whipping  the  poor 
colored  man  and  the  poor  colored  woman  ;  who  are  hanging 
them  by  the  neck  until  they  are  dead,  without  giving  them  the 
trial  by  jury  ;  and  these  men  come  here  and  sa}7  because  we 
wish  to  pass  a  law  to  protect  these  innocent,  inoffensive  citi- 
zens, and  to  arrest  those  blood-thirsty  and  cowardly  assassins, 
they  say  we  are  endeavoring  to  array  the. whites  against  the 
blacks.  I  don't  believe  you  can  find  a  single  colored  man  in 
this  State  that  is  an  enemy  of  the  white  man  because  he  is 
white,  qr  an  intelligent  white  man,  a  manly  white  man,  a 
decent  and  an  upright  white  man  that  hates  the  black  man 
because  he  is  black.  Not  one.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any 
such  feeling  in  this  State  any  further  than  is  sustained  by 
political  considerations.  Is  that  the  feeling  of  the  Democratic 
party  on  this  floor  ?     I  will  not  say. 

The  gentleman  from  Caldwell  says  that  the  Democratic 
party  did  n»t  entertain  this  feeling.  I  would  ask  that  gentle- 
man, or  any  member  on  the  floor,  to  point  out  a  single  paper — a 
Conservative  paper — a  Democratic  paper — that  has  not  demon- 
strated their  antipathy.  I  defy  these  gentlemen  to  point  out  a 
single  instance  where  black  men  have  committed  depredations, 
that  they  have  not  been  punished  for  it.  But  how  many,  how 
numerous  are  the  outrages  committed  on  black  men  by  mur- 
derous and  lawless  men  ?  The  outrages  in  Chatham  will 
answer  ;  the  outrages  in  Orange  will  answer. 

Another  thing,  Mr.  Speaker.  It  has  been  the  aim  of  the 
papers  of  the  Conservative  party  to  place  the  colored  people  in 
a  false  light  before  the  whole  people  of  the  State,  and  when 
correctly  informed  on  any  subject,  they  refuse  to  make  that 


•correction.  I  will  give  you  one  instance  in  the  City  of 
Raleigh.  There  is  a  paper  published  here  known  as  the 
-Sentinel,  the  great  luminary  of  Conservatism  in  North  Caro- 
lina, around  which  the  lesser  luminaries  gather.  At  one  time 
It  became  necessary,  as  the  Governor  thought,  to  send  a  few 
militia  to  the  upper  part  of  this  County.  They  were  colored 
militia,  officered  by  intelligent,  respectable  white  men.  They 
were  stationed  at  a  house  where  some  outrpges  had  been  com- 
mitted. And,  sir,  we  find  that  the  Sentinel,  day  after  day 
appealed  to  the  whole  people  of  the  State  not  to  submit  to 
these  outrages  ;  that  the  Governor  had  usurped  the  authority 
of  placing  negro  militia  over  the  white  men  of  North  Carolina; 
that  he  went  so  far  towards  placing  them  over  the  heads  of 
the  white  people.  He  said  those  negro  militia  were  entering 
the  houses  of  inoffensive  white  citizens,  and  were  insulting  their 
■wives  and  daughters. 

In  the  Sentinel  of  the  9th  of  November,  it  says  we  were  in- 
formed yesterday,  by  a  respectable  citizen  of  the  County,  that 
on  Thursday  night  last,  a  negro  militiaman  went  to  the  house 
of  a  widow  lady  in  the  vicinity  of  the  camp,  and  forcibly 
dragged  her  daughter,  a  respectable  young  lady,  to  the  woods, 
and  there  violated  her  person  in  a  most  brutal  and  shocking 
imanner.  Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  Conservative  papers  of  the 
•"State  copied  this  article,  who  pretended  to  believe  that  the 
■Governor  was  actually  sanctioning  the  commission  of  rape 
upon  white  women  in  the  County  of  "Wake.  The  Adjutant 
rGeneral  sent  tor  the  Editor,  I  saw  him  down  in  the  Chief  Sec- 
retary's office  the  next  day.  The  Governor  saw  him  and  two 
gentlemen  from  the  neighborhood,  Conservatives,  said  that  this 
thing  was  false  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  Editor  promised  that  he  would  make  that  correction, 
that  he  had  done  the  colored  people  a  great  injustice,  and  yet 
the  very  next  day  the  only  correction  the  Editor  of  the  Sentinel 
■made,  I  will  read  the  correction  that  was  made  after  publish- 
ing all  through  the  State  this  libel  on  the  negro  militia.  Peo- 
ple from  that  section  declared  it  was  a  lie  from  beginning  to 
end.     White  people  who  came  from  that  section  four  or  five 


days  in  succession  felt  indignant  at  the  article,  and  said  they 
never  heard  of  it  until  they  came  here  to  Kaleigh,  and  here  is 
the  correction  in  the  Sentinel  of  the  10th : 

"  We  have  received  from  Adjutant  General  Fisher  a  copy  of 
the  act  of  the  General  Assembly  in  regard  to  the  organization 
and  employment  of  detailed  militia  but  have  been  too  closely 
einployed  to  look  into  it.  We  shall  refer  to  the  act  and  mat- 
ters connected  with  it  perhaps  to-morrow." 

After  having  published  one  of  the  most  false  and  malicious 
articles  against  unoffending  colored  men  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duties,  after  having  appealed  to  the  prejudices  and  pas- 
sions and  self-respect  of  the  white  people  of  North  Carolina  by 
misrepresenting  the  colored  militia  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties,  they  refuse  to  give  them  the  benefit  of  a  contradiction 
when  respectable  white  people  in  that  neighborhood  declared 
it  was  false  from  beginning  to  end.  He  gave  neither  the  name 
of  the  negro  who  committed  the  outrage,  nor  the  white  woman 
on  whom  it  was  committed.  I  say  now,  Sir,  if  there  be  any 
ill  feeling,  if  there  be  any  array  of  the  whites  against  the 
blacks,  or  of  the  blacks  against  the  whites,  it  is  attributable  to 
the  Conservative  party  alone.  Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  clear 
that  the  Conservative  party  do  endorse  these  outrages — every 
honest  man  believes  that  they  endorse  them. 

I  cannot  believe  that  the  gentlemen  who  represent  the  Con- 
servative party  on  this  floor,  and  they  being  mostly  inexpe- 
rienced politicians,  that  their  hearts  are  young  and  tender  and 
honest,  and  aside  from  party  compressions  and  party  consid- 
erations, they  would  not  push  themselves  forward  in  the  advo- 
cacy of  crimes,  in  the  encouragement  of  assassinations,  murder, 
bloodshed  and  death  in  the  land.  Do  they  represent  the  con- 
victions of  those  men  who,  ten  years  ago,  put  their  State  in 
conflict  with  the  great  power  of  the  United  States,  of  those 
men  who  are  encouraging  these  murders  and  assassinations, 
and  shooting  down  and  hanging  poor  defenceless  innocent 
colored  men,  and  who  would  break  the  Constitution  asunder  if 
they  had  the  power,  and  would  wage  another  war  to-day 
against  the  government  of  the  United  States  ? 


8 


Reconstruction  is  a  fixed  fact,  and  that  conflicts  between  the 
two  sections  of  country  is  forever  over.  I  don't  so  understand 
it.  I  would  to  God  it  was  so.  The  struggle  between  the  law- 
less assassins,  between  the  cowardly  band  of  murderers  and 
peaceable  unoffending  and  law  abiding  citizens  of  North  Caro- 
lina is  not  over.  It  is  nothing  more  than  the  reflex  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  disappointed  political  aspirants  who  are  aim- 
ing to  obtain  a  political  power  over  the  dead  bodies  of  defence- 
less men,  women  and  children. 

The  gentleman  from  Caldwell  has  told  us  to  strike  out  and 
adopt  his  amendment.  He  admitted  here  on  Friday  that  the 
adoption  of  the  bill  would  not  amount  to  anything.  That  is 
his  words  and  I  agree  with  him,  but  his  object  is  to  defeat  it 
and  for  the  purpose  of  saying  to  the  colored  men  you  elected 
a  Republican  Legislature,  you  elected  a  Republican  Governor, 
you  have  a  two-thirds  majority  in  your  House,  and  yet  they 
failed  to  protect  you,  but  we  promise  to  do  so  in  the  next  contest. 
Come  and  go  with  us,  we  will  put  down  these  outrages  and 
protect  you. 

That  this  is  their  object,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  too  apparent  to  be 
denied  by  any  man.  The  gentleman  wishes  "to  know  why  are 
not  these  outrages  referred  to  a  grand  jury,  that  is  one  of  the 
most  absurd  arguments.  You  may  ask  any  of  the  Solicitors 
in  any  one  of  those  Districts  where  those  outrages  have  been 
committed,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  he  sent  these  cases  to  the 
grand  jury,  with  proof  positive,  and  the  parties  were  always 
enabled  to  prove  an  alibi,  and  with  a  jury  and  witnesses  in 
sympathy  with  these  desperadoes,  to  refer  these  cases  to  a 
grand  jury  is  a  perfect  farce  in  those  Counties  where  these  des- 
peradoes have  control,  as  they  seem  to  have  in  Jones,  Lenoir 
and  Alamance. 

Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  think  I  have  shown  that  we  have  a  law 
on  the  statute  book  equal  in  power  to  the  one  proposed  to  be 
enacted,  only  that  it  refers  to  a  special  class,  that  of  the  free 
negroes,  and  in  this  case  it  refers  to  all  citizens,  black  and 
white,  that  is  the  only  material  difference. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  said  that  there  is  an  organized  element 


9 


in  this  State  whose  object  is  to  subvert  the  present  State  gov- 
ernment. I  have  said  there  is  an  Organized  element.  I  don't 
care  what  they  call  it.  But  there  is  an  organized  element 
whose  chief  object  is  to  intimidate  the  colored  people  and 
drive  them  to  support  themselves  and  their  party  and  defeat 
the  Republican  party  in  the  coming  elections  and  to  subvert 
the  present  State  government ;  and  why  do  I  think  so  ?  Take 
the  history  of  the  outrages  in  the  different  counties,  and  what 
do  we  find  ?  Where  you  find  one  white  man  who  has  been 
outraged  who  is  a  Conservative,  you  will  find  hundreds  that 
were  Republicans ;  and  wherever  you  find  these  colored  men 
outraged  and  murdered,  you  will  find  without  exceptions  that 
they  were  prominent  colored  men  in  favor  of  schools  and  in 
favor  of  the  Republican  party ;  and  where  white  men  have 
been  whipped,  their  heads  shaved,  and  their  backs  lacerated, 
as  it  has  been  done  on  many  occasions,  it  was  because  these 
white  men  were  in  favor  of  establishing  negro  schools.  These 
are  not  empty  assertions  but  facts,  which  I  am  prepared  to 
prove. 

I  will  commence  by  noticing  the  outrages  in  Chatham 
County  first.  The  gentleman  who  is  so  strenously  opposed  to 
the  bill  will  take  his  notes.  In  Chatham  County  a  colored 
woman  was  taken  by  a  party  of  Ku  Klux,  and  stripped  of  her 
clothing,  and  whipped,  and  her  back  lacerated  frightfully. 
The  woman  came  to  Raleigh,  and  exhibited  her  scars  to  the 
authorities.  This  band  went  to  her  house  and  dragged  it  down, 
and  threatened  to  take  the  scalp  from  her  head.  I  ask  the 
attention  of  the  House  while  I  go  through  this  chapter  of 
blood  and  murder,  to  show  that  that  there  is  an  organized  band. 

Here  Mr.  Harris  was  interrupted  by  Mr.  Downing,  who  said 
that  a  lady,  (Miss  Dix)  who  was  widely  known  in  this  country 
as  a  philanthropist,  was  now  in  the  Governor's  room,  and  he 
thought  it  would  be  a  mark  of  respect  to  invite  her  to  a  seat  on 
the  floor,  if  she  wished.  He  therefore  moved  that  the  Speaker 
appoint  a  committee  to  invite  her  to  a  seat  on  the  floor. 

Messrs.  Downing,  Durham  and  Moore,  of  Chowan,  were 
appointed  a  committee  for  that  purpose. 


10 


Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  pledge  you  my  word  that  I  will  say 
nothing  unbecoming  in  the  presence  of  this  distinguished 
philanthropist,  and  my  reason  for  doing  so  is  that  a  sense  of 
shame  and  propriety  prevents  me  from  proving  these  unspeak- 
able atrocities,  murders,  and  afflictions  committed  on  the  inno- 
cent and  defenceless  in  the  presence  of  such  a  distinguished 
philanthropist.  I  am  ashamed  in  the  presence  of  the  humane 
and  benevolent,  to  let  them  know  the  crimes  and  outrages  that 
are  perpetrated  in  their  midst,  here  in  the  good  old  State  of 
North  Carolina. 

But  while  I  have  the  opportunity,  I  will  say  a  few  words  in 
illustration  of  these  wicked  atrocities. 

On  October  the  22d,  in  Chatham  County,  Luke  Wilson,  a 
colored  man,  was  dragged  out  of  his  house  and  beaten  nearly 
to  death  ;  and  do  we  find  for  what  ?  Simply  for  being  a  Re- 
publican and  a  man  in  favor  of  negro  schools,  in  favor  of  the 
education,  advancement  and  progress  of  his  race. 

On  September  16th, ,  a  colored  man  and  his  wife 

were  also  severely  whipped  and  abused.  "We  find  again,  that 
,  a  colored  woman  was  dragged  from  her  bed  and  severe- 
ly whipped  only  because  her  husband  was  a  prominent  Repub- 
lican in  that  section  of  the  county. 

On  September  the  — ,  we  find  that  Atkins,  he  and  his  wife, 
were  dragged  from  their  bed  and  also  severely  whipped.  And 
all  this  catalogue  of  crimes  and  outrages  are  perpetrated  in 
Chatham  County,  and  yet  some  gentlemen  would  have  us  to 
believe  that  law,  order  and  peace  prevail  in  Chatham 
County. 

I  shall  now  refer  to  Forsythe  County.  Thomas  Bailey,  an 
inoffensive  colored  man,  a  party  of  the  Ku  Klux  went  to  his 
house  and  dragged  him  from  it,  tied  his  hands,  took  out  a  ball, 
an  instrument  of  torture,  and  put  it  in  his  mouth,  stripped 
him,  tied  him  hand  and  foot,  put  his  hands  and  head  under  the 
fence,  fastened  the  ball  in  his  mouth  with  iron  spikes  and 
whipped  him  nearly  to  death.  These  are  facts  and  not  exag- 
erations.  These  parties  were  arrested  and  brought  to  trial. 
They  held  their  trial   before  one  J.  L.  Johnson,  a  Justice  of 


11 


the  Peace,  and  that  Justice  of  the  Peace  bound  these  murder- 
ers over  to  Oourt,  and  the  jury  refused  to  find  a  true  bill  against 
these  men,  although  they  had  the  ball  still  covered  with  the 
blood  that  had  been  drawn  from  the  roof  of  the  mouth  of  this 
colored  man.  And  yet  we  are  told  that  all  is  peace  and  quiet- 
ness in  North  Carolina. 

[Here  Mr.  Harris  was  interrupted  by  the   member  from 
Forsythe  stating  that  he  was  informed  on  undoubted  author- 
ity that  the  parties  connected  in  this  outrage  were  indicted 
but  there  was  not  sufficient  evidence  to  convict  them,  but  sev 
eral  parties  were  bound  over  to  the  peace  in  this  case.] 

Mr.  Harris,  I  am  glad  the  gentleman  from  Forsythe  has  in- 
formed us  so  ;  he  has  only  confirmed  what  I  have  said,  that 
the  work  of  bloodshed  is  going  on  in  the  good  old  County  of 
Forsythe.  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  is  one  of  the  reasons 
why  those  parties  have  not  been  prosecuted.  These  blood- 
thirsty scoundrels  persist  in  their  work  of  blood  and  murder — 
scourging,  whipping,  hanging,  shooting,  committing  every 
cruelty  and  indignity  possible  for  damnable  fiends  to  commit 
on  defenceless  and  unoffending  men,  women  and  children,  and 
yet  I  have  to  learn  of  the  first  single  instance  where  one  of 
these  villians  has  been  convicted. 

Mr.  Speaker,  any  man  who  should  have  heard  of  the  testi- 
mony given  before  the  Court  in  the  City  of  Newbern  would 
not  need  any  further  demonstrations  and  proofs  of  the  iniquity 
and  fiendish  purposes  of  this  damnable  organization.  It  was 
clearly  proved  on  the  testimony  of  this  witness  that  whoever 
belonged  to  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  it  was  positively  declared, 
that  the  moment  he  joined  the  order  his  oath  bound  him 
to  take  the  life  of  his  father,  his  mother,  his  brother,  his 
sister  ;  yes,  his  whole  family  if  it  was  necessary  to  advance 
and  carry  out  the  designs  of  this  wicked  and  infernal  organ- 
ization. Furthermore,  he  tells  us  that  when  any  of  the 
party  were  arrested  and  brought  to  justice  the  Ku  Klux 
would  hang  around  the  Court  House  that  they  might  be 
picked  up  and  placed  on  the  jury,  and  were  solemnly  sworn 
to  release  the  scoundrel  that  was  brought  before  them.     Oh  ! 


12 


what  a  state  of  things.  How  could  you  expect  to  get  a  con- 
viction, how  could  you  expect  to  get  justice.  I  tell  you,  gen- 
tlemen you  might  as  well  arraign  the  devil  before  his  angels — 
you  might  as  well  descend  to  the  lower  regions  and  arraign 
Lucifer  the  prince  of  devils  and  swear  his  imps  on  the  jury 
with  more  prospect  of  obtaining  justice  then  to  swear  those 
bloodthirsty  murderous  and  unprincipled,  damnable  imps  of 
hell  on  a  jury  to  try  their  compeers  in  assassination,  bloodshed 
and  destrnction.  You  cannot  do  it,  it  is  impossible,  and  that 
is  one  reason,  and  I  think  a  grand  and  primary  one,  that  this 
militia  bill  should  at  once  be  made  law  and  afford  to  all  per- 
sons, black  and  white,  Democrat  and  Republican,  foreign  and 
native,  that  security  and  protection  so  necessary,  so  essential, 
at  the  present  time,  to  their  lives  their  property  and  their  very 
existence. 

It  is  provided  in  the  4th  section  that  the  Solicitor  shall  have 
the  power  to  move  the  trial  of  the  offender  to  a  County  in 
which  no  citizen  interested  in  the  matter,  any  further  than  the 
maintenance  of  law,  the  preservation  of  order,  the  protection 
and  security  of  the  lives  and  property  of  the  people,  and  the 
dignity  of  the  Commonwealth  of  North  Carolina,  can  be  taken 
on  the  jur\.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  I  am  in  favor  of  the 
bill. 

But  to  return  to  the  scene  of  cruelty  and  bloodshed  in  Iredell 
County.  On  December  last  a  party  of  disguised  villians  went  to 
the  house  of  a  colored  man,  dragged  him  away  and  severely 
whipped  him — for  what  ?  For  nothing  more  than  being  in 
favor  of  negro  schools ;  within  six  miles  of  Statesville,  and 
whipped  him  nearly  to  death.  That  is  what  he  is  whipped 
for,  and  yet  we  are  told  that  peace  and  order  prevail  in  North 
Carolina.  Now,  sir,  the  same  night  that  this  cruel  act  was 
perpetrated  these  very  same  villians  rode  by  another  man's 
house  for  the  purpose  of  gratifying  their  develish  spleen  on 
another  defenceless  man  ;  his  son  went  to  the  door  to  open  it 
and  these  devils,  in  human  flesh,  without  the  slightest  consid- 
eration of  mercy  fired  volley  after  volley  of  bird  shot  into  his 
face,  and  told  him  never  to  let  them  hear  him  again  mention 


13 


a  word  about  negro  schools ;  and  yet  we  are  told  by  gentlemen 
on  this  floor  that  pt;ace  and  order  prevails  in  North  Carolina 
and  everything  is  going  on  smoothly  and  tranquilly  among  us. 
I  come  now  to  the  County  of  Wake.  Last  month  a  colored 
man  six  miles  from  this  Town  was  taken  from  his  bed  and  a 
colored  woman  also,  and  severely  whipped.     And  here  I  will 

remark  that  Mr. ,  living  seventeen  miles  from  this 

Town,  a  magistrate,  was  actually  afraid  to  issue  a  writ  and 
came  to  Raleigh  and  requested  the  Mayor  to  issue  the  writ  and 
"  three  of  the  party  were  arrested  and  are  now  bound  over  to 
appear  at  the  next  term  of  Court.  The  other  two  were  arrested 
in  Chatham  from  the  fact  that  this  County  had  no  jurisdiction 
over  them.  Still  we  are  told  that  we  have  peace  and  quiet- 
ness in  North  Carolina. 

Now,  sir,  I  could  not  rehearse  this  chapter  of  murder  and 
bloodshed  in  two  years,  but,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  must  say  a  word 
for  the  great  County  ot  Orange  in  this  catalogue  of  crime  and 
outrage.  I  do  not  intend  to  spend  much  time  in  the  rehearsal 
of  this  calendar  of  wrong  and  outrage  done  to  the  innocent  and 
unoffending  in  connection  with  this  County,  but  here  let  me 
say,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  a  colored  man  who  was  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel,  in  December  last,  in  Johnston  County,  was  dragged 
from  his  own  house  and  severely  and  unmercifully  whipped,  he 
made  his  escape  and  came  to  the  City,  and  the  only  objection 
against  him  was  that  he  established  in  that  County  a  negro 
school  and  negro  Church.  I  state  this  on  the  authority  of  a 
gentleman  of  unblemished  character  and  honor  in  the  State. 
And  here  let  me  say,  Mr.  Speaker,  if  gentlemen  will  allow 
me  for  a  moment,  that  I  know  the  colored  men,  and  the  poor 
white  people  also,  in  that  district  are  afraid  to  make  known 
that  these  outrages  have  been  committed. 

I  will  now  come,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  the  County  of  Orange, 
and  I  ask  the  indulgence  of  the  House  while  I  make  this  state- 
ment of  facts  without  qualifying  them  one  way  or  the  other. 
Now,  Sir,  in  Orange  County,  October  11,  1869,  Mr.  A.  King, 
a  white  man,  a  party  of  men  went  to  his  house.  He  was  not 
at  home.     They  left  word  with  his  family  that  they  would  put 


14 


twenty-five  balls  through  him  if  they  heard  any  thing  more 
about  him  making  a  petition  to  the  Governor  about  sending 
militia  to  that  County. 

On  October  the  11th,  a  party  of  the  same  disguised  mis* 
creants  went  to  the  house  of  another  colored  man,  Madison 
Munn,  in  Orange  County,  and  he  being  absent  they  told  his 
wife  they  would  blow  her  brains  out  if  she  would  not  tell  them 
where  he  was.  They  gave  her  a  severe  whipping  and  other- 
wise abused  her. 

On  October  the  11th,  again  we  find  the  same  night  they  • 
went  to  the  house  of  Samuel  Neville,  and  took  him  out,  gave 
him  a  severe  whipping,  put  a  rope  around  his  neck  and  lead 
him  on,  they  riding  on  horseback,  to  a  considerable  distance 
in  the  woods,  stripped  him  of  his  clothing,  and  gave  him 
twenty-five  lashes.     All  this  in  the  great  County  of  Orange. 

October  the  11th,  Henry  Hinton,  a  colored  man  was  taken 
out  of  his  house  and  severely  whipped  for  no  other  offence  than 
that  of  being  a  loud-mouthed  nigger  of  Kepublican  principles. 

Paul  Hinton,  a  colored  man,  was  taken  from  his  house  and 
severely  beaten,  but  he  broke  and  run  and  was  shot  at  several 
times,  his  offence  being  (as  they  thought)  belonging  to  the 
Union  League. 

Perry  Haughton  was  dragged  out  of  his  house,  beaten  and 
kicked  until  he  was  nearly  dead  and  ordered  to  leave  the 
neighborhood  or  he  would  be  killed. 

This  statement  of  bloodshed  and  crime  was  made  under  oath 
to  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  State,  either  by  persons  thus 
abused,  or  by  some  friend  who  came  here  to  give  the  informa- 
tion, and  gentlemen  who  have  the  slightest  doubt  of  this  truth- 
ful assertion,  I  will  refer  to  the  Adjutant  General's  office 
for  the  proofs. 

(Question  by  Mr.  Argo,  of  Orange.  I  would  like  to  enquire 
whether  the  names  of  those  persons  who  give  this  information 
can  be  obtained  at  the  Adjutant  General's  office  ?) 

Mr.  Harris.  I  will  say,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  in  some  cases  the 
Adjutant  General  can  furnish  the  names  of  those  parties,  but 
in  other  cases  he  has  them  privately,  and  therefore  it  would  be  a 


15 


breach  of  confidence  and  trust  to  divulge  the  names.  And 
one  reason  that  these  parties  refuse  to  give  their  names,  is  from 
the  fact  that  they  consider  themselves  unsafe  in  the  communi- 
ty in  whisht  they  live,  but  in  most  of  these  instances  the  parties 
names  can  be  obtained  at  the  Adjutant  General's  office. 

I  know,  Sir,  that  every  member  on  this  floor,  who  is  familiar 
with  the  history  of  these  midnight  assassinations,  know  that  no 
good  white  man  dare  venture  to  disclose  all  these  cases  of 
crime  and  murder  publicly,  their  lives  would  not  be  safe  and 
live  in  the  midst  of  such  merciless  and  vindictive  fiends. 

On  the  16th  of  November  the  house  of  a  colored  man  was 
broken  into,  his  gun  taken  and  broke  into  pieces,  and  he 
threatened  to  leave  the  neighborhood. 

Dallas,  a  white  man,  and  John  Smith,  a  white  man,  had 
their  heads  shaved  and  were  both  severely  beaten  in  Orange 
County.  Here  we  find  that  even  white  men  did  not  escape 
these  bands  of  marauders.  About  the  same  time  two  colored 
men  were  taken  from  Orange  County  jail  and  shot  without 
mercy,  one  of  whom  has  since  died,  if  not  both.  I  heard  the 
gentleman  from  Orange  remark,  let  the  law  take  its  course  in 
response  to  what  the  gentleman  from  Forsythe  said.  We  have 
an  instance  in  his  own  County  where  two  negroes  were  accused 
of  crime  and  were  committed  to  the  prisons  of  his  own  County, 
and  the  Ku  Klux  should  get  sufficient  force  and  seize  these 
poor  colored  men  from  the  law  officers,  defying  the  authorities 
of  the  law  and  actually  overpowering  them,  and  shot  these 
poor  defenceless  men  without  the  slightest  regard  for  mercy  or 
law.  The  law  officers  of  the  County  of  Orange  are  powerless 
to  execute  the  law  while  these  armed  bands  of  midnight 
assassins  have  control  of  this  County. 

The  County  Commissioners  of  Orange,  if  their  statements 
are  true,  are  completely  at  the  mercy  of  this  uumerciful  band 
of  marauders.  I  have  yet  to  learn  if  there  has  been  even  a 
single  conviction  there,  and  yet  that  County  stands  to-day 
with  its  history  written  in  the  blood  of  murdered,  unoffending 
and  defenceless  men  and  women,  and  yet  we  are  told  there  is 
no  use  for  the  militia  bill  where  crime  holds  high  carnival  in  no 


16 


less  than  five  Counties  ot  the  State.  But  there  is  a  power 
behind  the  throne  greater  than  the  throne  itself.  There  is  a 
power  behind  the  authorities  of  Orange  County  greater  than 
that  power  itself,  which  will  exert  itself  at  a  seasonable  time. 
When  the  fruit  is  ripe  then  it  shall  be  plucked. 

I  will  give  you  a  few  more  instances  of  these  outrages  in 
connection  with  Orange  County.  On  October  the  14th,  A. 
Peck,  a  colored  man,  was  taken  from  his  house  and  severely 
whipped,  and  a  party  of  these  men  broke  down  the  door  and 

windows,  and  took  out  Mr. ,  and  whipped  him  severely. 

For  what?  For  no  other  crime  than  being  aloud  mouthed 
radical.  And  yet  not  a  soul  has  been  arrested,  nor  no  attempt 
made  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  of  Orange  County  to  arrest 
one  of  these  murderers.  Also,  on  October  the  14th,  a  man 
and  a  lady,  both  white,  were  whipped  and  otherwise  severely 
maltreated.  A  man  and  his  wife,  both  white,  were  taken  out 
and  whipped,  and  yet  there  has  not  been  a  single  person 
arrested,  nor  no  attempt  made  to  arrest  them.  No,  not  a 
single  conviction  in  Orange  County,  where  assassination  and 
bloodshed  hold  high  carnival.  Stone  Alston,  a  colored  man, 
and  his  daughters  were  severely  whipped  just  before  Christmas. 
And  one  colored  man  and  his  daughters  were  severely  whipped 
on  their  plantation.  All  this  was  done  just  before  Christmas. 
On  December  the  19th,  Bealey  Neill,  aged  55  years,  living 
South-west  of  Hillsboro',  after  severely  whipping  him,  (with 
their  knives  and  pistols  drawn,)  took  their  Bowie  knives  and 
shaved  off  the  hair  from  his  head,  and,  in  some  instances,  took 
the  skin  off  with  it.  It  may  be  said  that  this  man  is  a  noto- 
rious character !  Is  not  the  law  sufficient  to  try  this  man  ? 
Is  it  right  or  just  that  mob  law  should  prevail  in  Orange 
County  or  in  any  other  County  of  the  State  ?  If  this  man  is 
a  notorious  character,  why  not  let  the  officers  of  the  law  arrest 
him  and  punish  him  according  to  the  laws  of  the  State,  and 
not  according  to  mob  law !  TVelker,  a  white  man  ;  a  party  of 
men  went  to  his  house  and  gave  him  thirty-nine  lashes !  A 
party  of  men  went  the  same  night  from  Guthrie's  mill,  visited 
the  houses  of  the  colored  people  on  New  Hope  creek,  destroy- 


17 

ing  all  the  guns  they  could  get  hold  of.  It  is  known,  up  to 
the  present,  that  upwards  of  thirteen  guns  have  been  taken 
and  destroyed  by  this  miserable  cowardly  band  of  thieves  and 
murderers. 

Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  on  Monday  night,  September  the  6th, 
(and  this  one  more  instance  and  I  am  done  in  Orange  County,) 
on  September  the  6th,  near  a  Cotton  Factorv,  a  colored  man 
named  Malone  was  burning  coal.    While  he  and  his  men  were 
attending  to  their  own  business  at  the  kiln,  a  party  of  these 
Ku  Klux  visited  him  and  enquired  for  his  son,  and  this  old 
man,  trembling,  pointed  out  his  son  to  them  without  even 
being  informed  of  his  offence.     These  miserable  wretches  tied 
his  hands  behind  him,  and  surrounded  by  five  armed  men,  he 
was  told  if  he  moved  he  would  have   his   brains   blown  out. 
(The  old  colored  man  came  here  to  Raleigh,  and  not  only  has 
he  made  this  statement,  but  it  has  also  been  made  by  other 
parties,  and  is  now  on  record  in  the  Adjutant  General's  office 
of  the  State.)     They  took  this  colored  man  and  led  him  away, 
no  one  knew  where,  until  found  Friday  afternoon  by  a  white 
man  hanging  in  the  woods,  dead,  by  the  neck.     1  suppose  he 
had  been  hanging  there  from  Monday  night  until  Friday  after- 
noon.    But  one  more  instance  and  I  will  certainly  have  done 
with  Orange  County.     A  colored  man  aged  thirty,  and  another 
aged  forty-five  years  were  taken  and  hanged  dead  by  the  neck. 
Now,  Sir,  on  October  the  18th,  here  we  find  two  colored  men 
taken  by  the  Koi  Klux  Klan — by  a  party  ot  disguised  mur- 
derers— and  without  giving  them  a  shadow  of  a  trial  by  jury, 
they  were  hanged  in  the  County  of  Orange  until  they  were 
dead  by  the  neck,  and  a  label  put  upon  their  backs  forbidding 
any  body  to  take  them  down  until  Thursday,  three  or  four  days 
afterwards. 

Mr.  Speaker,  these  are  facts  upon  which  I  challenge  suc- 
cessful contradiction.  These  are  undeniable  facts  that  these 
colored  men  were  unmercifully  hanged,  and  that  not  a  single 
man  ventured  or  dared  to  take  these  black  men  down  until 
they  were  found  there  by  an  officer  of  the  United  States. 
These  are  facts  that  cannot  be  contradicted,  and  yet  we  are 
2 


told  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  enact  a  militia  law  in  North 
C  arolina. 

I  come  next  to  Jones  County.  In  Jones  County  three  col- 
ored men  were  taken  out  and  shot,  and,  so  far  as  I  have  learned, 
not  a  single  attempt  was  made  to  arrest  anybody  by  the  au- 
thorities of  that  County.  Not  one  attempt  was  made  to  bring 
these  murderers  to  justice.  I  will  turn  from  that  County  and 
show  you  a  more  bloody  picture  of  outrage  and  death  in  Lenoir 
County.  You  all  remember  Kingston  bridge,  where  eight  de- 
fenceless colored  men,  on  one  dark  and  rainy  night,  were  taken 
from  the  jail,  shot  in  cold  blood,  and  thrown  into  the  Neuse 
river.  Just  think  of  it.  Just  meditate  on  it.  Here  is  a  state 
of  peace  and  quietude..  Gentlemen  would  have  us~believe,  in 
the  good  old  State  of  North  Carolina,  these  villainous  mur- 
derers, accused  of  these  horrid  crimes,  have  never  been  tried 
or  convicted.  Eight  human  beings  taken  forcibly  from  their 
place  of  incarceration,  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  law,  shot 
in  cold  blood,  and  their  bleeding  bodies  thrown  over  Kingston 
bridge  into  the  waters  of  the  Neuse  river,  and  not  one  of  these 
liends  incarnate  have  ever  been  brought  to  justice.  And  yet 
we  are  told  by  gentlemen  on  this  floor  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  enact  a  militia  law,  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  pass  some, 
measure  for  the  protection  of  our  lives,  liberty  and  property. 
Yes,  for  our  very  existence. 

I  might  cite  outrages,  many  and  frightful,  that  have  been 
committed  in  other  counties,  but  I  have  grown t  sick  and  dis- 
gusted in  rehearsing  this  record  of  bloodshed,  murder,  perse- 
cution and  death  inaugurated  in  North  Carolina.  In  reply  ta 
the  gentleman  from  Iredell,  (Mr.  Nicholson,)  I  will  say  that  I 
cannot  again  take  up  the  time  of  the  House  in  rehearsing  the 
long  catalogue  of  crimes  and  bloodsed — giving  names  and 
dates  where  parties  were  shot,  whipped,  and  hanged  by  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan.  I  would  direct  the  gentleman  from  Iredell 
(Mr.  Nicholson)  and  others  to  the  office  of  the  Adjutant  Gen- 
eral, where  they  could  see  on  record  the  evidences  of  the  com- 
mission of  the  outrages  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Admission, 
this  morning  was  made  by  Mr.  Argo  that  men  had  been  taken, 


19 


from  the  Hillsboro'  jail  and  shot  and  hanged ;  and  yet,  in  the 
face  of  these  records,  and  this  admission,  the  gentleman  (Mr. 
Nicholson)  declared  that  the  only  evidence  of  the  commission 
of  the  outrages  was  mere  assertion.  As  to  the  diatribe  against 
the  Union  League,  I  will  challenge  any  man  to  produce  a  sin- 
gle instance  where  the  League — as  a  League — sanctioned  and 
encouraged  the  commission  of  acts  of  violence.  I  avow  my 
determination  to  go  to  Chatham  and  Orange  and  other  Coun- 
ties and  advise  the  colored  people  how  to  act  in  the  premises. 
I  have  always  counselled  peace,  but  will  say  that  if  Conserva- 
tives expect  to  drive  the  colored  people  into  a  support  of  their 
party  by  a  system  of  intimidation,  they  will  be  mistaken. 
The  colored  man  will  not  always  submit  in  silence  to  wrongs. 
All  history  shows  that  when  illiterate  men  are  roused  to  despe- 
ration by  acts  of  oppression  that  their  vengeance  is  terrible. 
I  would  say  also,  Sir,  to  these  bitter  leaders  of  the  Conserva- 
tive or  Democratic  party  they  should  desist  at  once ;  I  fear 
they  are  agitating  a  volcano,  which,  should  it-  happen  to  ex- 
plode, I  fear  they  cannot  control  the  lever  as  easy  as  they  im- 
agine. As  for  this  conflict  of  races  of  which  so  much  has 
been  said,  I  have  no  fears  of  that  at  all ;  if  that  is  what  the 
Conservatives  are  seeking,  I  will  tell  them  that  the  General 
^Government  will  not  suffer  any1  one  race  to  wage  war  upon 
another.  Those  who  are  wicked  enough  to  attempt  such  a 
thing  will  be  crushed  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  Government. 
Conservatives  might  as  well  understand  that  colored  men  can 
not  and  will  not  be  driven  into  a  support  of  the  Conservative 
party.  It  can  not  be  expected  that  colored  men  will  stand 
Idly  by  and  see  men  of  their  race  hanged  and  shot  down  in 
cold  blood.  The  Conservatives  might  as  well  at  once  abandon 
their  system  of  intimidation,  such  as  was  being  practiced  in 
Orange  and  Chatham.  The  men  who  have  governed  those 
Counties  for  thirty  years,  have,  thus  far,  refused  to  say  a  word 
or  write  a  line  of  condemnation  for  the  acts  of  violence  com- 
mitted in  those  Counties.  I  expect  to  support  the  great  princi- 
ples of  the  Republican  party,  though  I  by  no  means  mean  by 
this  that  I  will  vote  for  every  Republican. 


20 


I  ask  in  the  name  of  the  law-abiding  and  peaceable  people — 
I  ask  for  the  sake  of  the  good  name  and  fame  of  this  Old 
State — I  ask  in  the  name  of  the  outraged  and  defenceless  class 
of  citizens  who  are  suffering  untold  persecutions  and  death 
by  this  lawlessness — I  ask  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  North 
Carolina — I  ask  in  the  name  of  Heaven  itself,  that  we  all 
unite,  that  all  truly  good  and  law-abiding  citizens  unite,  that 
ever}'  man  who  has  the  interest,  prosperity  and  progress  of 
North  Carolina  at  heart,  to  unite  in  the  determination  to  pre- 
serve the  lives,  property  and  the  liberties  which  this  Constitu- 
tion, baptised  in  the  blood  of  brave  men,  has  guaranteed  to  us. 
There  is  no  question  about  the  purpose  and  intention  of  this 
organized  band  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  not  because  these 
wicked  men  have  any  personal  antipathy  against  the  colored 
men,  but  it  is  a  fixed,  well  matured  and  deep  laid  scheme,  to 
intimidate  the  colored  voters,  and  demoralize  the  Republican 
colored  voters,  that  these  political  aspirants  may  once  more 
arrive  in  the  power  of  North  Carolina.  I  would  ask,  gentle- 
men, in  the  name  of  the  good  old  State — I  would  ask,  gentle- 
men, in  the  name  of  the  entire  people  of  North  Carolina,  to 
ponder,  before  they  go  forth  and  proceed  to  prosecute  an  un- 
fortunate and  inoffensive  class  of  men.  It  has  been  alleged, 
Mr.  Speaker,  that  they  have  been  obnoxious  and  offensive  in 
the  Counties  of  Chatham  and  Orange,  and  because  of  this 
character,  they  have  been  prosecuted  and  murdered.  Such 
reasoning  is  illogical  and  false.  If  it  is  a  fact,  as  Conservative 
orators,  and  Conservative  newspapers  of  this  State  allege,  is  it 
because  the  colored  people  are  so  disorderly  and  vicious,  that 
they  are  to  be  whipped,  hanged,  murdered  and  shot  down  like 
wild  beasts  ?  I  would  ask  how  happens  it  that  in  the  Counties 
of  New  Hanover,  Brunswick,  Edgecombe,  in  short,  how  is  it 
that  in  every  County  in  the  State  where  the  whites  are  in  the 
minority,  we  have  never  heard  a  single,  solitary  instance  of 
these  Ku  Klux  outrages.  How  is  it  that  in  those  Counties 
where  the  colored  people  predominate,  they  do  not  commit 
these  wrongs  on  the  white  race?  How  is  it  that  they  never 
commit  these  outrages  ?    How  is  it  that  they  never  commit. 


21 


those  deeds  of  murder  and  bloodshed  ?  But  that  is  never  the 
case,  and  I  challenge  successful  contradiction  when  I  state 
that  there  is  not  a  single  County  in  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina where  the  negroes  are  largely  in  the  majority,  where  they 
are  powerful  in  numbers,  has  a  single  white  woman  been  in- 
sulted or  a  white  man  wronged.  You  cannot  point  to  a  single 
instance  where  they  have  committed  these  great  wrongs  against 
the  white  race.  You  cannot  do  it,  gentlemen.  Therefore, 
why  is  it — for  what  is  this  misrepresentation  and  libel  on  our 
race  ?  It  is  for  political  effect,  for  we  see  that  wherever  the 
whites  have  the  majority,  where  the  negroes  are  hopelessly  in 
the  minority — we  are  told  they  are  so  offending,  so  obnoxious, 
they  are  so  vicious,  that  whites  have  to  resort  to  the  bowie 
knife,  to  the  pistol  and  to  the  rope  to  maintain  their  self-respect 
and  dignity.  I  say  here  that  it  is  false ;  that  it  is  a  miserable 
falsehood.  I  denounce  this  allegation  here  to-day,  in  the  name 
of  the  honest,  docile,  and  inoffensive  colored  people  of  North 
Carolina.  I  denounce  it  in  the  name  of  the  law-abiding, 
peaceable  but  defenceless  people  of  Chatham  and  Orange,  and 
every  other  County  where  these  damnable  and  hell-begotteii 
outrages  have  been  committed.  Their  faces  may  be  white,  but 
their  hearts  are  as  black  as  the  darkest  recesses  of  hell.  I 
stand  here  as  a  negro,  but  I  submit  it  to  the  honest  and  intel- 
ligent white  people  of  North  Carolina,  that  these  allegations 
against  the  reputation  of  the  colored  people  are  damnable  lies 
from  beginning  to  end,  and  a  libel  upon  the  colored  people  of 
North  Carolina.  This  is  done  for  political  effect  to  seek  to 
intimidate  the  colored  people  in  those  Counties  where  they  are 
equally  divided,  that  they  may  carry  the  election  in  the  next 
campaign. 

A  few  more  words  and  I  will  have  done  with  the  subject. 

Sir,  it  is  equally  strange  that  every  gentleman  who  is  famil- 
iar with  the  political  history  of  Orange  County  and  Chatham 
County,  knows  perfectly  well  that  three  or  four  prominent 
men  residing  in  these  Counties  have  governed  them  for  twenty 
years.     Three  or  four  leading  gentlemen  have  governed  these 


22 


Counties  for  twenty  years — and  I  would  ask  the  Representa- 
tives iroin  these  Counties,  if  they  can  deny  this  assertion  ? 

Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  say  is  it  not  strange  that  not  a  single 
leading  gentleman  in  those  Counties  have  come  forward, 
openly  and  above  board,  and  denounced  these  outrages  ?  I  can 
call  by  name,  gentlemen  in  Orange  who,  by  writing  one  short 
letter,  could  put  down  all  these  outrages ;  but  it  is  not  done. 
What  an  example  for  colored  men !  Yet  I  am  glad  to  say 
their  conduct  in  this  respect,  is  far  more  commendable  than 
that  of  the  white  men  of  whom  I  complain.  Here,  the  other 
day  when  a  worthless  negro  murdered  a  man,  this  murderer 
was  immediately  arrested  and  brought  to  justice  at  the  instance 
©f  black  men.  And  I  will  make  this  assertion,  that  whenever 
a  negro  commits  an  outrage  on  his  white  brethren,  the  colored 
people  are  the  iirst  to  have  him  arrested.  I  ask  those  gentle- 
men, who  attempt  to  palliate  the  outrages  of  the  Ku  Klux, 
does  these  white  brethren  endeavor  to  have  them  arrested  and 
brought  to  justice  ?  No,  never.  What  a  commentary  upon 
the  character  of  the  so-called  superior  white  race !  Here  the 
ignorant,  stupid  negro,  with  an  instinct  of  right,  justice  and 
humanity,  seeks  to  bring  the  offender  and  violater  of  law  to 
justice  on  the  one  hand,  while  the  white  race  on  the  other 
kand,  witnesses  blood-shed,  murder  and  assassination  and  out- 
rage committed  on  a  defenceless  and  unoffending  race — they 
see  the  laws  of  humanity  and  nature  outraged  and  do  not 
interfere  to  stay  the  vile  hand  of  the  assassin.  Oh,  what  a 
commentary !  and  then  claim  superiority  over  the  colored  race. 
God  knows  they  are  welcome  to  this  kind  of  superiority 
©ver  us. 

I  have  but  one  consideration  in  this  matter,  and  that  is,  I 
desire  to  see  prosperity  and  peace  once  more  preserved  in  North 
Carolina.  Let  us,  gentlemen  of  North  Carolina,  quit  this 
folly.  Let  us  forget  party  considerations.  Let  us  all  be  gov- 
erned by  a  common  feeling  to  advance  our  country,  to  advance 
the  interest  of  North  Carolina,  to  increase  her  prosperity  and 
progress,  to  preserve  her  laws  and  Constitution  inviolate.  Let 
us  all  unite   and  put  down  these  outrages,  whether  they  are 


23 


committed  by  blacks  or  by  whites — by  Republicans  or  Con- 
servatives— and  allow  every  man  to  go  to  the  polls  to  vote  as 
they  may  think  fit.  But  I  know,  sir,  the  object,  of  the  party 
that  opposes  this  measure,  so  necessary  to  the  progress  and 
prosperity  of  North  Carolina.  They  wish  to  destroy  the  con- 
fidence of  the  colored  people  in  the  Republican  party.  They 
seek  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  the  colored  people  in  the 
Republican  party  in  the  coming  elections. 

I  have  to  remark  on  this  floor  that  in  the  days  of  Macon,  in 
the  days  of  the  good  old  fathers  of  this  State,  even  in  the  days 
of  slavery  these  old  gentlemen,  if  they  were  in  this  House 
they  would  have  certainly  condemned  these  outrages  and 
passed  vigorous  measures  to  suppress  them.  Their  voices 
would  be  heard,  they  would  make  this  hall  ring  with  the  sound 
of  their  voices  asking  in  the  name  of  justice,  in  the  name  of 
humanity,  in  the  name  of  the  blood  of  the  defenceless  and 
innocent,  they  would  ask  this  Legislature  to  pass  a  law  to  pro- 
tect them.  I  ask  in  the  name  ot  the  good  old  men  who  once 
governed  this. State.  If  I  had  the  voice  and  language  of  a 
Gaston,  a  Macon  and  a  Badger,  I  would  appeal  to  you  in  the 
name  of  this  defenceless  and  outraged  class  whose  blood  has 
been  shed,  and  which  cries  to  Heaven  lor  vengeance,  but  I 
only  ask  justice  and  I  appeal  to  you  now  as  men,  as  intelligent 
men,  as  upright,  honest  and  just  men,  as  human  beings,  to 
pass  this  measure  for  the  protection  of  the  innocent  and  for  the 
peace,  progress  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  people  of  North 
Carolina. 

I  will  just  say  a  few  words,  Mr.  Speaker,  and  then  I  will 
have  done.  It  has  been  hinted  that  the  State  is  unable  to  pro- 
tect these  defenceless  colored  men.  I  have  heard  gentlemen 
say  it.  It  is  implied  in  one  half  of  their  speeches,  that  the  Ku 
Klux  will  prevail,  and  in  a  great  deal  that  has  been  written 
has  the  same  doctrine  been  advocated.  But  I  will  tell  gentle- 
men here,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  colored  people  of  North  Car- 
olina will  not  bear  much  longer  the  yoke  over  their  heads.  I 
will  tell  the  opposition  party  here  that  if  you  expect  to  carry 
the  colored  people  by  persecution,  by  bloodshed,  by  whipping. 


24 


by  bowie  knives,  by  the  pistol  and  rope,  I  will  tell  you,  gen- 
tlemen, you  are  very  much  mistaken,  you  have  to  learn  yet  of 
the  material  you  are  attempting  to  deal  with  ;  and  I  will  tell 
you  that  nearly  every  black  man  in  North  Carolina  has  en- 
graven on  his  heart  the  words  of  the  immortal  Patrick  Henry, 
"  Give  me  Liberty  or  give  me  Death."  "While  we  are  willing 
to  submit  to  the  laws  we  are  not  willing  to  bear  the  shackles 
of  political  slavery.  If  these  persecutions,  murders  and  assas- 
sinations are  to  continue,  and  the  government  of  North  Caro- 
lina is  not  strong  enough  to  enforce  the  law,  the  proper  author- 
ities in  "Washington  City  will  see  that  it  is  enforced,  they  have 
the  power  to  suppress  these  outrages  and  maintain  the  law. 
If  the  State  government  is  unwilling  or  unable  to  protect  the 
weak  I  will  remind  gentlemen  here  that  the  strong  arm  of  the 
United  States  will  stand  by  us  and  protect  this  defenceless 
class  of  citizens  and  help  them  to  overcome  the  domineering 
spirit  of  the  party  that  is  seeking  to  enslave  them. 

And  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  believe  that  this  House  stands 
prepared  to  adopt  this  bill  as  it  now  reads.  I  am  opposed  to 
the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  but  as  that  lias  been 
stricken  out  of  the  bill  I  hope  that  the  House  will  pass  it,  that 
the  Senate  will  concur  in  the  amendments,  and  that  it  will  at 
once  become  the  law  of  the  good  old  State  of  North  Carolina. 
I  believe  there  is  moral  force  enough  in  the  hands  of  the  intel- 
ligent and  honest  white  people,  as  well  as  with  the  colored 
people,  to  enforce  this  law. 


■$*■ 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


Form  No.  A -368 


